Bhubaneswar: Over 99.61 lakh voters will decide the fate of 460 candidates in six Lok Sabha seats and 42 Assembly segments in the coastal region of Odisha Saturday amid prevailing hot and humid weather conditions, officials said.
A straight fight is expected between the ruling BJD and the opposition BJP in the coastal region, where voting will be held from 7am to 6pm in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha seats.
A total of 66 candidates are in the fray in the Lok Sabha seats and while 394 candidates will contest the Assembly segments in the fourth phase of simultaneous polls in the eastern state.
In the 2019 elections, BJP won Mayurbhanj and Balasore seats, while the BJD bagged Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur constituencies. Of the 42 Assembly segments under these Lok Sabha seats, the BJD won 34, while the BJP secured eight.
A total of 50.88 lakh men, 48.72 lakh women and 687 transgender persons are eligible to cast their votes in 10,882 polling booths.
In view of hot and humid conditions, special arrangements have been made at polling stations to provide essentials to voters, Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) NB Dhal said.
DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi said 36,000 security personnel, including 125 companies of central forces, have been deployed across the six constituencies.
About 2,280 polling booths have been identified as critical, necessitating the deployment of central forces to ensure free and fair elections.
Key candidates in this phase include Odisha Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik, Government Chief Whip Prashant Kumar Mudili, and half-a-dozen Odisha ministers Sudam Marndi, Ashwini Patra, Pritiranjan Ghadai, Atanu S Nayak, Pratap Deb and TK Behera.
Also, four sitting MPs — Pratap Sarangi (Balasore), Manjula Mandal (Bhadrak), Sarmistha Sethi (Jajpur) and Rajashree Mallick (Jagatsinghpur) – are in the fray in their respective seats. The BJD had changed its Kendrapara candidate, while the BJP has fielded a new candidate in Mayurbhanj seat.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Odisha unit president Anjani Soren is contesting from Mayurbhanj and also from Saraskana Assembly segment, while BJP state president Manmohan Samal is a nominee from Chandbali Assembly constituency in Bhadrak Lok Sabha. Former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik is a candidate from Bhandaripokhari Assembly seat.
The JMM candidate is considered to be a deciding factor in Mayurbhanj. Soren, who had contested the previous elections from the seat, had polled over 1 lakh votes in 2019.
This time, the BJD has fielded Odisha minister and former JMM leader Sudam Marndi in Mayurbhanj. The BJP has fielded its sitting Rairangpur MLA Naba Charan Majhi as its candidate in Mayurbhanj.
Balasore is set to witness a triangular contest as the Congress has fielded its heavyweight nominee and former Union minister Srikant Jena, while BJD has fielded Lekhashree Samantsinghar, a former Odisha BJP vice-president, has locked horns with sitting BJP MP Pratap Sarangi, also a former Union minister.
In Bhadrak, BJD’s Manju Lata Mandal and BJP’s Avimanyu Sethi have locked horns again this time. Last time, Mandal had won the seat by a margin of 28,803 votes. BJD candidates have retained the Bhadrak seat since 1998.
In Kendrapara Lok Sabha, BJP has fielded its national vice-president and three-time MP Baijayant Panda, who has locked horns with BJD’s Anshuman Mohanty.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president JP Nadda and other senior saffron party leaders have campaigned extensively. Modi held rallies in Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Kendrapara Lok Sabha seats.
Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Vishnu Dev Sai and Bhajan Lal, and former Tripura CM Biplab Deb have also campaigned for party candidates. Union minister Smruti Irani and actor Hema Malini have also campaigned for BJP nominees.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his aide Kartik Pandian have campaigned for BJD candidates, while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a rally in Balasore and Bhadrak Lok Sabha seats.
PTI